No-Fail Popovers in High Altitude

 

Popovers are a family tradition in our home. My great-grandmother used to make these for our family. Since being married I have not been able to make a successful batch of popovers. I followed my mother's recipe to a T....room temperature ingredients, pouring mixture into a hot pan, etc. This year I finally figured out what I've been doing wrong! I grew up on sea level in Washington and now I live in Utah at 4,350 ft above sea level. Since I am not an expert chef, I always neglect to adjust for high altitude. So, after a little trial and error, I have found a no-fail recipe for cooking popovers in high altitude locations.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus softened butter for greasing pans
1 1/2 cups unsifted flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups milk, at room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously grease (average sized) muffin tins with softened butter. Place the pans in the oven for exactly 2 minutes to preheat. If you are like me and can't wait several hours for the eggs and milk to reach room temperature, you can place them in warm water for a few minutes to heat them up (be careful to not cook the eggs!) Whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. The batter should be runny. Fill the hot pans less than half full. Bake for 5 minutes then lower heat to 400 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes, for a total of 20 minutes. Do not open the oven at all! Serve hot with butter, jam or syrup. Makes 24 popovers.